Northern Illinois University school shooting

A white male dressed in black fired at least 20 rounds in a Northern Illinois University campus classroom before turning the gun on himself. At least 15 victims have been transported Kishwaukee Community Hospital including six with head wounds. The shooting took place around 3 p.m. in Cole Hall near the King Commons, a central gathering place on the 25,000-student campus, according to the Web site.

A woman named Corrine described the scene to CLTV, saying she was “carried out” of Cole Hall by a “wave” of students running for their lives.

“When one of the kids said, ‘This guy is shooting!’ I just ran to the next building as fast as I could and hid in an empty classroom.”

Paul Sundstrom of Rockford, Ill., one of 150 to 200 students in the geography class when the shooting took place, told WMAQ that the gunman was a thin white man wearing a black “beanie” and a long black trench coat.

The man entered the room from the back, behind the professor, and began shooting without saying a word, Sundstrom said, firing in the general direction of the students. He emptied his clip of ammunition and calmly reloaded before resuming firing.

“I just don’t know why anybody would want to do anything like this,” Sundstrom said.

In keeping with a new security system put in place after the massacre last year at Virginia Tech University, the university issued an alert at 4:20 p.m. ET telling students to avoid Kings Common and buildings in the area. The university was locked down, and all classes were canceled through Friday.

DeKalb is located about 65 miles west of Chicago.

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